POLICE WERE yesterday investigating the discovery of a man’s body in Buckhaven.

The man, who is understood to be in his mid-40s, was found in the back garden of his downstairs flat in Sandwell Street in the early hours of yesterday.

Police and forensic teams cordoned off the area and carried out a routine search of the garden before removing the body before 11am.

The flat is used as a scatter flat to accommodate homeless people or people who need housing support.

Although it is thought there are no suspicious circumstances behind the death, a postmortem examination will be carried out to confirm the exact cause.

The man’s identity has not yet been released by police as efforts to trace and inform his next of kin were continuing last night.

But local man William Wallace, who only moved out of the scatter flat he shared with the man four weeks ago, said he was saddened to hear of his friend’s passing.

“He was brand new, a good guy, and would do anything to help anybody,” he said.

Mr Wallace added that the dead man had been complaining of back pains earlier this week and questioned whether or not that may have had anything to do with his death.

“I was in to see him only on Wednesday and he wasn’t very well at all—he had a lot of bother with his back and he could barely stand up,” he said.

It is believed the man originally hailed from Lanarkshire but later moved into rented accommodation in the East Neuk—where his relatives are now thought to stay.

He also spent over 20 years in the armed forces and served in both the Falklands War and in Iraq.